Container



Dec.2l,1948. F. L. RUSHING 2,456,841.

CONTAINER Filed June 22, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ms A! Tram/5H5.

F. L. RUSHING Dec. 21, 1948.

CONTAINER Filed June 22, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 21, 1948 CONTAINER Fred L. Rushing, Tampa, Fla assignor to Gaylord Container Corporation, St. Louis, Mo., a

corporation of Maryland Application June 22, 1945, Serial 110,600,953

1 Claim. (Cl. 229-45) This invention relates to containers, particularly folded-blank, fruit and vegetable shippin cartons of the kind having a body with a slip cover and hand holes to facilitate handling. The principal object of the present invention is to provide for automatically locking the cover to the body without the use of separate fastening members and to provide for quickly and easily releasing the automatic cover locking means. Other objects are to facilitate face-packing of the contents of the carton and to provide for simplicity and cheapness of construction. The invention consists in the carton and in the construction, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

. In the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification and wherein like symbols refer to likeparts wherever they occur.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a carton embodying my invention, portions of the cover being shown brokenaway,

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of said carton,

Fig. 3 is an end elevational view thereof,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view on the line l4 in Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 4, showing the cover before it is fully seated on the body,

Fig. 6 is a similar view, showing the cover detached from the body,

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view on the line in Fig. 1,

Fig. 8 is a plan view of a portion of the blank from which the cover is made; and

Fig. 9 is a plan view of a portion of the blank from which the body is formed.

In the accompanying drawings, my invention is shown embodied in a fruit or vegetable shipping carton comprising a body A and a slip cover B therefor, both made of folded blanks of corrugated board, fiberboard or other bendable material. The body A of the carton comprises a bottom panel I having upstanding side wall panels 2 with inturned end flaps 3 disposed in endwise abutting relation along the longitudinal center line of said body and upstanding end wall panels 4 that lie against the outside faces of said end flaps and have upper marginal flaps 5 that are bent downwardly against the inside faces thereof. The downturned upper marginal flaps 5 of the end wall panels 6 are held in place preferably by means of a corrugated board bottom liner 6 which snugly fits within the body A and seats on the bottom panel thereof and serves as a strengthening and cushioning member and to protect said bottom panel from moisture from the fruits or 2 vegetables packed in said body. The inturned end flaps 3 of the side wall panels 2 are provided at their abutting edges with mating horizontally elongated rectangular notches 'l; and the end wall panels 4 have horizontally disposed rectangular slots 8' therein that register with said matin notches and cooperate therewith to provide in the two outer piles of the three-ply end walls of the body A-an opening 9 which is closed by the downturned flaps or inner plies of said end walls.

The slip cover B preferably comprises a top panel Ill having a rim including depending side panels II with inwardly bent end-flaps l2 and depending end panels l3 that lie against the outside faces of said end flaps and have upturned lower marginal flaps I 4 that lie against the i11 side faces thereof. As shown in the drawings; the upturned marginal flaps M' have lugs IS on the upper edges thereof that fit in vertical openings l6 provided therefor in the top panel In and serve to lock said flaps in place. The end flaps l2 have. mating rectangular notches I! in the lower portions of the meeting edges thereof; and the end panels l3 have horizontally elongated rectangular slots 18 therethrough which register with said mating notches and form therewith hand holes IS in the two outer plies of the threeply portions of the rim at the ends of the cover. The hand holes l9 in the .cover B are preferably of less vertical depth than the holes 9 in the end walls of the body A and are located so that their upper edges are substantially level with the upper edges of the body holes when the cover is applied to the body.

The upturned lower' marginal flaps M of the end panels l3 of the cover B are slit or cut, as at 29, along the top and ends of the hand holes IS in said cover to provide partly detached upstanding tongues or flaps 2| on said upturned margier marginal flaps it and formhorizontal ledges or shoulders thereon.

By the arrangement described, when the slip cover B is teleseoped over the body A, the inwardly and upwardly inclined locking flaps on the inner faces of the upturned rim flaps l4 slide downwardly along the outer faces of the end wall 3 Y panels 4 or said body and then snap into the hand holes 9 in the end walls and thus automatically lock the cover to the body. In the seated position oi! the cover, the locking tabs or tongues 2| extend into the holes I 9 in the end walls of the body with their upper edges in abutting relation to the upper edges of said hand holes, thus preventing removal of the cover from the, body. 7 When the carton is lifted by inserting the fingers in the hand holes IS in the rim or the cover B, the "fingersdorce the locking tongues or flaps 2| inwardly in the openings 9'in the end walls of the body A, thus preventing said flaps from becoming disengaged from the body and providing additionalpurchase area for the fingers. When it is desired to remove the cover to inspect or remove the contents 01' the carton, the fingers are slipped upwardly between upturned rim flaps ll of the cover and the adjacent end wall panel 6 of the body and the locking tongues 2! are pressed outwardly clear of the holes 9 in the end walls, thereby permitting the cover to be lifted ofi the body.

The carton is preferably provided with a rectangular corrugated board lining and packing frame 22 that fits snugly within the body. In

packing the carton, the frame 22 is placed in the upturned cover B and selected fruits or vegetables Obviously, the hereinbefore described construc-' tion admits of considerable modification without departing from the invention. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the precise construction shown and described.

What I claim is:

A shipping carton comprising an upwardly opening body and a removable and replaceable self-locking slip cover therefor, said bodyincluding upstanding end wall panels having hand hole openings therethrough and upper marginal flaps folded downwardly on the inner sides of said panels extending to the bottom thereof and covering said openings, said slip cover including depending rim panels having hand holes therethrough opposite said openings and lower marginal flaps folded upwardly on the inner sides of said rim panels over the hand holes therethrough, said lower marginal flaps having inverted U- shaped slits providing thereon opposite said hand holes upwardly and inwardly inclined locking tongues adapted when said cover is slipped over said body to snap into the openings in the wall panels thereof with their upper ends in abutting relation to the upper edges of said openings and adapted to be'disengaged from said openings by inserting the fingers upwardly between said wall panels and said upwardly folded marginal flaps and pressing said tongues outwardly clear of said openings.

FRED L. RUSIHNG.

REFERENCES CH'E'ED The following references are of record in the 

